Sunday, February 15, 2015

Ridiculous Storm Continues In New England Sunday Morning

Satellite view of the giant nor'easter smothering
eastern New England Sunday morning.  
I just don't know what else to say beyond what I've said about the incredible winter siege slamming eastern New England.  

As expected, another blizzard is pounding the area. It was still snowing as of 9:30 a.m. in eastern New England, and will more or less continue the rest of the day.

As of 10 a.m., some ridiculous Massachusetts snow totals have started coming in, once again. 22 inches in Acushnet, 21 inches in Milton. 20 inches in Salisbury, Ipswich and New Bedford.

These would be noteworthy accumulations for one storm, but remember, this is another in a series of storms.

As dawn broke, Boston had received 89.7 inches of snow this winter. If it had stopped snowing at 7 a.m. this morning there and not snowed again the rest of the season, that would be Boston's third snowiest winter on record.

Of course heavy snow continued there. Heavy snow was still reported in Boston as of 9 a.m. The snowiest winter on record is 107.6 inches in 1996-96. And the rate Boston is going, they'll have no trouble getting the 18 inches of snow needed to break that record.

There is simply nowhere to put the accumulated snow if you want to clear streets, sidewalks and parking lots.  Plus, it's still snowing, and the wind is blowing things around. This is just amazing.

There was thundersnow last night and this morning in parts of Massachusetts, a clear sign that this is exploding into a monster storm.

Weather Channel icon Jim Cantore's favorite weather is thundersnow. It excites him. So we bring you this video of a live shot he was on in Massachusetts. More on the storm below the clip:



As of 9 a.m., the center of the mammoth storm was still a little southeast of New England, heading toward the Gulf of Maine. It was still bombing out, meaning the already strong storm was getting stronger.

As a result, winds were picking up along the coast. Numerous gusts over 50 mph have been reported, a few over 60 mph, and gusts to hurricane force are possible as the storm really gets going as it passes Cape Cod.

Buildings and roofs started collapsing under the snow a week ago in Massachusetts as the accumulations piled up. More failures have happened already today. The National Weather Service in Taunton, Mass said part of a 40 by 100 section of a building collapsed in Canton, Mass.; and there was a partial roof collapse of a building, which then caught fire in Foxboro, Mass., very close to Gillette stadium.

Coastal flooding is also causing damage, though it is not quite as bad as during the late January blizzard. Still, several coastal streets and roads were closed by the flooding, including southbound lanes of Morrissey Boulevard in Boston.
A six foot tall fence in Natick, Mass. this morning.
From Bill Domrose, @DomroseB, via Twitter.  

Light snow on the outer edges of the storm is already withdrawing from northern New York and northwest Vermont, and the snow will slowly taper off from west to east across New England today, tonight and tomorrow.

The region, and the entire Northeast, will then just be caught in unrelenting frigid weather and strong winds today and much of tomorrow.

Eastern Maine and the Canadian Maritime provinces are  still in in for the long haul. They're still expected a total of 10 to 18 inches of new snow amid wind gusts to 60 mph in eastern Maine, New Brunswick and parts of Nova Scotia.

The storm is so massive and so strong, that strong gusty winds will continue through Monday. Combined with the pure frigid Arctic air over the Northeast, wind chills will continue to be extremely dangerous through Monday.

How dangerous? Wind chills as low as 40 or 45  below are expected in parts of New York and Vermont, as a for instance.

Since the storm is so huge, the strong, damaging winds extend over a broad area. Last night, winds gusted to 68 mph in Germantown, Maryland, 66 mph in Gaithersburg, Maryland and at Wintergreen, Virginia.

Amid the frigid weather, with temperatures in the teens and wind chills below zero, several thousand people are without power in the Mid-Atlantic states due to wind damage.

ANOTHER STORM

After this monster of a blizzard blows by, there's another storm on the horizon. It's uncertain yet, but there are some signs Boston and environs could get lucky and receive only a glancing blow from the midweek storm. But who knows? It could hook back. But a storm that only drops a couple inches of snow would represent a nice break, given how this winter has been going.

Before the storm gets to the Northeast, however, it's ready to cause a TON of trouble in the south central and southeastern parts of the nation.
Snow cover reaches the level of a roof of a
one story building in Gloucester, Mass.  

A broad area from central Oklahoma and Kansas, through Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky, and on into northern Georgia and parts of the western Carolinas are under a variety of winter storm warnings, watches and advisories.

Much of that area can expect six to 10 inches of snow between now and Tuesday. Many areas could get an ice storm, especially near or south of Little Rock, Arkansas and maybe near Memphis, Tennessee.

Freezing rain could fall on Atlanta, Georgia Monday or Monday night, and we all know how things can get screwed up in Atlanta by winter weather.

The weather pattern that has brought New England this extreme winter weather is locked in until early March at least, quite possibly beyond.

The only change to the pattern that started the past couple of days and will continue through early March is for cold waves to also extend to the middle of the country, and some of the snows could land further south than they have been lately.

Beyond Wednesday, I have no idea if New England will get any more big snowstorms. They don't want any, I know. But it's hard to forecast specific storms this far out. What's more certain is it's going to stay cold in the Northeast through the end of February and possibly beyond, so not much of the deep, deep snow is going to disappear anytime soon.

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